Improvement in battery-guns



WlLL iAM FIELDS.

improvement in Battery-Gu ns. N0. 113,996. Paten-tedApril251l87l.

STATES NITE WILLIAM FIELDS, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

IMPROVEMENT IN BATTERY-GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1 13,996, dated April 25, 1871.

of the armor being removed. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a similar view of my feeding device. Fig. 4 is a part section View, showing more especially the cams by which the breech-piece is raised and lowered.

Arepresents the wheels, upon which the frame rests. Extending upward from each end of the axle is a standard, B, to which the bed-plate G and armor D are pivoted. This bed-plate 0 consists of a broad metal plate, and is provided with a trunnion, a, upon each side, bearing in the standards B, so as to allow the barrels E to be raised or depressed by means of the screw G. Resting on the top of this plate or frame, and having their rear ends screwed into a solid head-piece, F, as seen in Fig. 4, are the barrels E. These barrels may be of any desired size, and may vary in number from ten up to fifty, just as may be desired, and are so placed in regard to each other that their ends slightly diverge, so that in firing fifteen at a range ofone thousand yards the balls will sweep a space of thirty feet. In an ordinary-sized battery I propose to use fifteen barrels.

In using a solid head-piece and screwing the barrels therein I obtain a great advantage, for should one of them be injured in any manner it can at once be removed and a new one inserted. Cut in the rear side of this headpiece is a groove, a, extending from one barrel to an- To the eccentrics J, as seen in Fig. 4, is pivoted the solid breech-piece L, which has tapering ends, and which slides up and down in the groove or guide M, so as to allow the barrels E to be loaded from the rear. This breech-piece fits tightly against the head-piece F when in position, as seen in Fig. 4, and is provided with one or more nipples, upon which the caps are exploded by the hammer N.

P represents my device for feeding or loading all the barrels at once. This consists of a plate having a corresponding groove for each barrel, in which the cartridges are placed.

When it is desired to load the battery the lever K is drawn upward, and it acting on the.

two eccentrics IJ draws the breech-piece downward, leaving the rear ends of the guns open, ready to receive the cartridges. The feeder P, having a cartridge in each groove, is then pre sented, resting upon the supports 0, bringing the cartridges just opposite their respective holes, so that by a single push upon the plungers or rods R the plate S drives them all home at once.

Thrown over and completely surrounding the battery upon every side except the rear is the armor D. This armor consists of a number of steel plates, hinged together in such a'manner that they can be let down so as to form a most perfect protection to the operators, or can be folded up so that the battery can be moved from one place to another without impediment. In order to make these plates proof against cannon-ballsand other large missiles, I provide them with a number of springs, T, so that when struck, instead of presenting a solid resistance to the ball, they spring from six to eight inches, giving the ball an opportunity to rebound or glance off without breaking or penetrating theplates. The springs may be ot'any suitable kind and placed in any desired position.

U represents the attachment in which the ammunition is carried, and which may be of any desired construction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. The hinged armor D, in combination with the springs T, substantially as shown and described.

2. In combination with the breech-piece L, all are combined to form a field-battery gun, the two eccentrics I J and lever K, when a'rsubstantially as shown and described.

ranged to operate as described. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 3. The feeding device consisting of the my own I hereby affix my signature. grooved plate P, plungers R, and plate or pis- WILLIAM FIELDS ton S, when combined as set forth.

4; The barrels E, head-piece F, screw G, Witnesses: hinged spring-armor plates D, breech-piece L, A. B. CRAWFORD, eccentrics 1 J, lever K, and hammer N, when J N0. HENRY TUHL. 

